


Shooting Stars

by seaunicorn



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Fireworks, Fourth of July, Gen, Panic Attacks, Sensory Overload
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-05
Updated: 2017-07-05
Packaged: 2018-11-23 16:29:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11406207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seaunicorn/pseuds/seaunicorn
Summary: It's Kara's first Fourth of July on Earth, and the incessant explosions quickly become too much for her.





	Shooting Stars

**Author's Note:**

> As someone who has anxiety and gets sensory overload with loud noises (like fireworks) I was sitting in my living room listening to the explosions happening throughout my neighborhood trying to stay calm and decided a fic about Kara's first Independence Day on Earth, because with her super hearing, she probably had a hard time.
> 
> I literally wrote this in like 20 minutes and am posting it sorry for any errors I'll probably fix them later.

It happened when the sun set.

Kara sat on the couch, watching television with Alex, when a loud thundering explosion pounded her eardrums. Before she could even react, another explosion sounded. Her hands flew over her ears, covering them tightly, trying to block out the loud booms ringing through her head so loud she couldn’t hear herself think.

“Alex,” Kara whimpered, as she jumped off the couch.  “What—what is this?”

Alex began to speak, a concerned frown on her face, but Kara couldn’t hear anything over the racket in her head.

“What?!” Kara shouted.

The explosions stopped, long enough for Alex to reply.

“Fireworks,” she said.  “Shoot, I didn’t even think—it’s the fourth, how could I be so stupid?!”

Kara couldn’t hear what Alex said next because another loud explosion rang through the room. Kara flinched backwards and her hands flew to her ears again, tears springing to her eyes.

“Kara!” Alex yelled, and reached out a hand to hold her arm.

As soon as Alex’s hand brushed Kara’s arm, Kara stumbled backwards, startled by the touch, overwhelmed by the noise.

“I don’t—it won’t stop,” Kara cried.  She backed out of the room, against the wall, trying to escape the noise, but it was everywhere.  “Make it stop!”

Alex tentatively stepped toward her sister.  “I can’t, I’m sorry,” she said during a lull in the racket.

Another especially loud boom made Kara nearly jump out of her skin.  The tears spilled from her eyes, and she ran upstairs, grabbed a pillow and hid under her bed.  Her heart raced, threatening to beat out of her chest.  She couldn’t hear herself think long enough to tell herself to calm down, or take a breath.  Her breathing grew erratic, and uncontrolled as she struggled to gulp for air, and every new explosion that sounded set her off again.

She tried to muffle the sounds with her pillow, but it didn’t help much.

Kara had no idea how long she was under her bed, unable to focus on anything but the banging in her ears.  Minutes?  Hours?  It all felt the same.

She didn’t even hear Alex come into her room, and didn’t know Alex was crawling under the bed with her until she was already there.  She didn’t say anything at first, just laid there next to Kara, looking up at the underside of the bed.

When the fireworks stopped long enough for Kara to hear, she spoke.

“Put these on,” Alex said, and handed her a pair of ear plugs.  Kara had used them a few times to help her sleep when sounds became overwhelming.  She didn’t know how much help they would be, but it was the thought that counts, right?

Kara took the plugs and put them in her ears.  “Thanks,” she muttered.  It helped a little, but the sound still reverberated through her entire body.

“These too,” Alex said, when Kara flinched again at another firework.  Kara wiped her cheeks, wet with tears and looked at what Alex held out to her: a pair of earmuffs.  “I figured with your super hearing you’d need some extra protection,” Alex added with a small smile.

“Thank you,” Kara said again, and slipped the earmuffs on over her ears.

It still wasn’t perfect.  She could hear every explosion in what felt like a twenty-mile radius, but it was much more muted.  She couldn’t hear Alex anymore, but she could at least hear herself think.  It took a moment to compose herself and stop crying, get her breathing under control, but once she did, she slowly climbed out from under the bed, and Alex followed close behind.

“Better?” Alex asked.

“Yes, a little,” Kara nodded.  “What is happening, Alex?”

Alex spoke between explosions to ensure that Kara could hear her.  “It’s a holiday.  Independence Day?”  All Kara could do was shrug, unfamiliar with the words.  “Two hundred some odd years ago, America became a country and every year we celebrate by blowing things up.  It’s as dumb as it sounds.”

Kara frowned.  “Why—why would people do that?”

Alex held out her hand.  “Come here,” she muttered.  “I’ll show you.”

Tentatively, Kara grabbed her sister’s hand, and followed her down the hall to Alex’s bedroom window, which was much easier to climb out of.  Alex hoisted it open, took out the screen, and climbed onto the roof of their house.  Kara followed after, confused as to why they would be going to the roof.

She found Alex sitting, feet dangling over the edge of the roof, gazing off into the vast night sky.

After a moment, a bright light flew up into the sky and burst into a different colored shimmer, closely followed by another explosion (still muffled thanks to Alex’s help).

“Whoa,” Kara gasped.  “What was that?”

“A firework,” Alex replied with a smile.  “They may be loud but they sure are pretty.”  She turned her head to Kara and patted the spot next to her.  “Do you want to sit with me for a bit?”

Slowly, Kara nodded and inched her way toward Alex.  She dropped down to sit cross-legged next to her sister and gazed up at the sky as another firework flashed across it.

“That one looks like a—a shooting star,” Kara mused.

“Yeah, it does,” said Alex with a small smile.

An enormous firework exploded in front of them, and it was particularly loud, loud enough to make Kara jump, even with the protective layers.  She quickly reached out her hand to grasp Alex’s and squeezed tight.  “It’s okay,” Alex muttered.  “You’re okay.”

They sat in silence, watching the fireworks streak across the sky.  Whenever a particularly loud explosion startled Kara, she squeezed Alex’s hand a little tighter.  Alex was pretty sure it would be bruised the next morning, but she didn’t care.  For Kara, it was always worth it.


End file.
